Post by bigfan on May 6, 2005 10:52:50 GMT -5
Knipe's gripe targeted on a flawed system
After 49ers snubbed, he seeks solutions.
By Frank Burlison
Staff writer
The nation's third-ranked volleyball team's season ended in Malibu last Saturday night, after a decision by three NCAA championship committee members on Sunday morning that gave the NCAA championship's solo at-large bid to the No.4 UCLA Bruins.
Gallery: NCAA Men's Vollyball Semifinals
The coach of the team left on the outside looking in as the championship semifinals were played in Westwood Thursday night home to those very same Bruins understands, sort of, why the committee, with the at-large criteria it was working with, gave the nod to UCLA.
But Long Beach State's Alan Knipe would have liked to have seen at least one aspect of that criteria treated the same way it was when the then-defending champion and, at the time, No.1-ranked 49ers were denied an at-large bid five years ago.
And he'd certainly like to see some modification of the criteria championship committee members can use in making the at-large selection used to fill out a field that also includes the tournament winners from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Midwest and Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Associations.
Better yet, he'd rather see the need for an at-large bid taken away, via the formation of a fourth volleyball conference based in the volleyball-rich western portion of the country.
He's not alone.
"I would be delighted, and I think everyone would be delighted, if all of the four spots (in the championships) were decided on the court," University of Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said Thursday afternoon.
"And the only way I can see that (happening) is in the formation of another league."
How about revising the criteria which now, includes three areas (head-to-head competition, strength of schedule and "eligibility and availability of student-athletes') used by the committee?
"To be honest, I want to get rid of it (the committee having to decide upon an at-large candidate)," he said. "Only four teams go to the national tournament. Let's figure out a way to do it on the court."
Knipe, Wilton (whose team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the MPSF tournament by Long Beach) and 49ers athletic director Bill Shumard who is wrapping up a four-year stint as a member of the men's volleyball championship committee see a viable option:
Let the Big West Conference, of which the 49ers are a member for all but men's volleyball, men's and women's water polo, and men's and women's indoor track and field (where they compete as one of the 13 members of the MPSF), sponsor men's volleyball.
Five of the Big West members (the 49ers, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge and the University of the Pacific) played volleyball in the MPSF.
If the BWC can gain a sixth volleyball-playing member, either from among the other four Big West schools or, perhaps, in the form of a school whose volleyball team could play in the conference as a "provisional' member, it would be eligible to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA championships.
There's a couple of catches, though, before that could become a reality.
"There are issues that would be needed to resolved at the NCAA level," Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell said Thursday.
One of those would be that, even with the six members playing the sport needed for NCAA approval, that automatic bid could only go to the Big West or any other conference that might try to sponsor the sport after a two-year "waiting' period.
"A conference would have to play the sport for two years before its champion could be an automatic qualifier (to the championships)," the NCAA's men's volleyball liaison, Chris Schneider, said this week.
Farrell said that he has had "informal' discussions with the NCAA's volleyball championship committee members about the possibility of the Big West sponsoring the sport, and of possible expansion of the championship field.
Schneider said that expansion of the tournament field is a subject that has been broached often by coaches and administrators.
"But the (NCAA) Championship Competition Cabinet has a policy in place in that a championship (field) can't be more than four teams if the total number of Division I-designated schools playing the sport is less than 10 percent of the entire DivisionI membership."
There are 22 Div.I programs (80 overall) fielding volleyball teams among the 327 total Div.I-designated programs.
So a new conference, even with the inevitable delay before the automatic bid is granted, may be a more viable option to do away with the at-large dilemma.
"We need another conference in the West and a perfect one would be the Big West," Knipe said.
His University of Hawaii counterpart seems to agree, although he wouldn't address the issue of his program possibly leaving the MPSF (Hawaii is a member of the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports but women's water polo).
"I'm sold on the idea (of the formation of another conference to do away with the need for the at-large bid)," Wilton said.
As for the probable two-year waiting period for the conference's automatic bid?
"All the more reason to get it going (as quickly as possible)," he said.
But Knipe, and other coaches, will continue to push for tinkering with the current set of criteria in the at-large process.
He believes that the 49ers' exceptional play down the stretch (when they won 13 of 16 matches, including victories over Pepperdine and UCLA, when both were No.1) should have been a part of the criteria considered in the at-large deliberations Sunday, the same late-season play that is such a part of at-large and seeding decisions in basketball.
And, while conceding different committee members were involved, he wonders why the 49ers, despite a 27-4 record and a 2-0 record against Stanford, lost the at-large bid to the 23-3 Cardinal in 1992?
Or that in 2000, despite being ranked No.1 most of the season and never being lower than No.2, the 49ers, after being bounced in the quarterfinals of the MPSF tournament (as the Bruins were two weeks ago), they didn't get the at-large bid while UCLA did in similar circumstance?
"I just don't feel that the criteria has been consistently interpreted the same way and that is what irritates me," Knipe said.
Schneider, and the volleyball committee, plans to listen to all input about possible tournament expansion and at-large criteria, from coaches while they are in Southern California this week before making suggestions about possible changes to the NCAA's Championship Cabinet in September.
"And I'm going to talk to Alan (Knipe, about his concerns and suggestions) Saturday," he said. "But it's important that the coaches, as a body, give us their input."
After 49ers snubbed, he seeks solutions.
By Frank Burlison
Staff writer
The nation's third-ranked volleyball team's season ended in Malibu last Saturday night, after a decision by three NCAA championship committee members on Sunday morning that gave the NCAA championship's solo at-large bid to the No.4 UCLA Bruins.
Gallery: NCAA Men's Vollyball Semifinals
The coach of the team left on the outside looking in as the championship semifinals were played in Westwood Thursday night home to those very same Bruins understands, sort of, why the committee, with the at-large criteria it was working with, gave the nod to UCLA.
But Long Beach State's Alan Knipe would have liked to have seen at least one aspect of that criteria treated the same way it was when the then-defending champion and, at the time, No.1-ranked 49ers were denied an at-large bid five years ago.
And he'd certainly like to see some modification of the criteria championship committee members can use in making the at-large selection used to fill out a field that also includes the tournament winners from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and the Midwest and Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Associations.
Better yet, he'd rather see the need for an at-large bid taken away, via the formation of a fourth volleyball conference based in the volleyball-rich western portion of the country.
He's not alone.
"I would be delighted, and I think everyone would be delighted, if all of the four spots (in the championships) were decided on the court," University of Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said Thursday afternoon.
"And the only way I can see that (happening) is in the formation of another league."
How about revising the criteria which now, includes three areas (head-to-head competition, strength of schedule and "eligibility and availability of student-athletes') used by the committee?
"To be honest, I want to get rid of it (the committee having to decide upon an at-large candidate)," he said. "Only four teams go to the national tournament. Let's figure out a way to do it on the court."
Knipe, Wilton (whose team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the MPSF tournament by Long Beach) and 49ers athletic director Bill Shumard who is wrapping up a four-year stint as a member of the men's volleyball championship committee see a viable option:
Let the Big West Conference, of which the 49ers are a member for all but men's volleyball, men's and women's water polo, and men's and women's indoor track and field (where they compete as one of the 13 members of the MPSF), sponsor men's volleyball.
Five of the Big West members (the 49ers, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge and the University of the Pacific) played volleyball in the MPSF.
If the BWC can gain a sixth volleyball-playing member, either from among the other four Big West schools or, perhaps, in the form of a school whose volleyball team could play in the conference as a "provisional' member, it would be eligible to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA championships.
There's a couple of catches, though, before that could become a reality.
"There are issues that would be needed to resolved at the NCAA level," Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell said Thursday.
One of those would be that, even with the six members playing the sport needed for NCAA approval, that automatic bid could only go to the Big West or any other conference that might try to sponsor the sport after a two-year "waiting' period.
"A conference would have to play the sport for two years before its champion could be an automatic qualifier (to the championships)," the NCAA's men's volleyball liaison, Chris Schneider, said this week.
Farrell said that he has had "informal' discussions with the NCAA's volleyball championship committee members about the possibility of the Big West sponsoring the sport, and of possible expansion of the championship field.
Schneider said that expansion of the tournament field is a subject that has been broached often by coaches and administrators.
"But the (NCAA) Championship Competition Cabinet has a policy in place in that a championship (field) can't be more than four teams if the total number of Division I-designated schools playing the sport is less than 10 percent of the entire DivisionI membership."
There are 22 Div.I programs (80 overall) fielding volleyball teams among the 327 total Div.I-designated programs.
So a new conference, even with the inevitable delay before the automatic bid is granted, may be a more viable option to do away with the at-large dilemma.
"We need another conference in the West and a perfect one would be the Big West," Knipe said.
His University of Hawaii counterpart seems to agree, although he wouldn't address the issue of his program possibly leaving the MPSF (Hawaii is a member of the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports but women's water polo).
"I'm sold on the idea (of the formation of another conference to do away with the need for the at-large bid)," Wilton said.
As for the probable two-year waiting period for the conference's automatic bid?
"All the more reason to get it going (as quickly as possible)," he said.
But Knipe, and other coaches, will continue to push for tinkering with the current set of criteria in the at-large process.
He believes that the 49ers' exceptional play down the stretch (when they won 13 of 16 matches, including victories over Pepperdine and UCLA, when both were No.1) should have been a part of the criteria considered in the at-large deliberations Sunday, the same late-season play that is such a part of at-large and seeding decisions in basketball.
And, while conceding different committee members were involved, he wonders why the 49ers, despite a 27-4 record and a 2-0 record against Stanford, lost the at-large bid to the 23-3 Cardinal in 1992?
Or that in 2000, despite being ranked No.1 most of the season and never being lower than No.2, the 49ers, after being bounced in the quarterfinals of the MPSF tournament (as the Bruins were two weeks ago), they didn't get the at-large bid while UCLA did in similar circumstance?
"I just don't feel that the criteria has been consistently interpreted the same way and that is what irritates me," Knipe said.
Schneider, and the volleyball committee, plans to listen to all input about possible tournament expansion and at-large criteria, from coaches while they are in Southern California this week before making suggestions about possible changes to the NCAA's Championship Cabinet in September.
"And I'm going to talk to Alan (Knipe, about his concerns and suggestions) Saturday," he said. "But it's important that the coaches, as a body, give us their input."
